Alan J. Lacy (born 19 October 1953) was the last chairman and CEO of

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

, which was acquired by

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

in 2005, at which point he became Vice Chairman of that organization.

Early life and education

Lacy was born in

Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of, and largest city in, Bradley County, Tennessee. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...

. He graduated from Cleveland High School in 1971. Lacy earned a BS in

Industrial Management In economics, industrial organization is a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure of (and, therefore, the boundaries between) firms and markets. Industrial organization adds real-world complications to the perf ...

from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1975 and an MBA from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in 1977.

Career

Lacy joined Sears in 1994 and served in a number of senior positions, including Chief Financial Officer, President-Credit and President-Services before being named CEO in 2000. He became CEO of

Sears Holdings Corporation Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th- ...

following the 2005 acquisition of Sears by Kmart Holdings and Vice Chairman prior to his departure in 2006. In addition to the sale of Sears to Kmart, Lacy's accomplishments included the acquisition of

Lands' End Lands' End, Inc., headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is a retailer of clothing, baggage, and furniture. In fiscal 2023, 63.2% of its revenue was from online retail orders in the U.S., 7.7% of revenue was international orders, 18.3% of re ...

, the sale of Sears credit operation to

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

and significant restructuring actions. Despite the competitive challenges Sears faced during his tenure as CEO, Sears' share price significantly outperformed the overall market and a number of key competitors (e.g.

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

). Prior to Sears, Lacy was in senior management positions with

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

and its former parent company

Altria Group Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc. until 2003) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and medical products in the treatment of illnesses c ...

. Lacy has served as a director of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Fidelity Funds (trustee), The Western Union Company, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Sears Holdings Corporation, Sears Canada Inc., the Economic Club of Chicago, and the National Retail Federation. He was a member of the Business Roundtable. He has also served as chairman of the Board of Dave and Buster's Entertainment, Inc. and as Senior Adviser to Oak Hill Capital Partners. His non-profit activities include having served as a trustee of the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History and as a director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is a former trustee and board Chair of the

National Parks Conservation Association The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is the only independent, nonpartisan membership organization devoted exclusively to advocacy on behalf of the National Parks System. Its mission is "to protect and enhance America's National Pa ...

. and trustee of the California Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacy, Alan J Sears Holdings people Living people Georgia Tech alumni Emory University alumni People from Cleveland, Tennessee 1953 births